1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the beverage container lid having a skirt for attachment to the rim of a beverage container and, more particularly to such a lid provided with a lid body having score lines defining a tear tab hinged at its inboard side to the lid body and hinged at its outboard side to a tab control ring used to move and hold a tab in opened and closed positions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known to provide a self-contained structure in a can lid for forming an opening using a predefined score line to gain access to the contents of the can. In a design where a pull tab and tear flap are joined together and torn free of the lid, the pull tab and tear flap give rise to a loose piece which might not be properly disposed of in a suitable trash container and may find its way as litter in the environment. The loose piece might be inserted into the opening in the container and could be ingested with the contents of the container. Other designs of the tear flap for a lid of a beverage container includes a score line that can be fractured to form a tab section displacable into the interior of the can body without disconnecting the tab section from the remainder of the lid so as to avoid the possible ingestion of a loose small lid part. The problem, however, with this type of construction is that any contaminates, solid or liquid, on the container top may find their way to the contents in the container thus contaminating the contents of the container. In both of these known pull tab constructions for a container, the opening to the container once open is not recloseable. There have been suggestions, however, to provide a container top construction which will enable re-closure of the opening at the users will. One such container top arrangement is shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,363,419 in which there is a pull tab with a finger size circular ring portion supported by a pull tab mounting portion permanently attached to the thin wall cover at the end of a can. A relatively small flap actuating portion is located adjacent to a circular flap portion to break open the flap portion and then rotate the flap portion inwardly of the can to form a circular access opening in the cover. The flap portion can be moved to cover the opening in the cover while remaining permanently attached to the cover.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,760,934 discloses a beverage container lid having a foldable tear strip flap that may be fastened and held in an open position by pressing the flap into a mating recess in the lid. When the tab is returned to a closed position, the tab is fitted between the raw torn edges of the lid. This arrangement suffers from the disadvantage that accidental toppling of the beverage container will allow the contents of the container to apply sufficient pressure to move the tear strip flap to an open position. Also, the tear strip flap can not be assumed to be maintained in a re-closed position with long continued integrity. It is believed metal fatigue of this tear strip flap will detrimentally affect re-closing of the flap in the lid recess.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,301,940 a pull tab and a tear strip remain fully locked onto a can end without the strip dipping into the beverage in the can. The can strip is broken loose from the can top by operation of a pull handle and thereafter the tear strip is rolled on the pull handle as the tear strip is released from the can top until a storage site is found at the center part of the can top.
An advantage therefore exists for the can top construction that will allow opening and re-closing with consistent and reliable operation of a tear tab.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved can lid construction that provides a tear tab which remains an integral part of the can and while at the same time the tear tab can be repeatedly positioned in a closed position with fluid tight integrity and allow the tab to be latched in an open position for convenient access to interior of a beverage container.